


30 Tips to Making Friends

by texadian



Series: How To... [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Fix-It, Friends to Lovers, Kagaminette, Marigami, Minor Love Triangle, no salt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-17 11:21:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29349612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/texadian/pseuds/texadian
Summary: Branching off from the episode, Ikari Gozen, Kagami wants nothing more than a friend in Marinette. She daftly decides to follow advice from a how-to post called '30 Tips to Making Friends'. Kagami may be skilled in many things, but getting close to girls her age, specifically Marinette, is a lot more daunting than one might expect.Part 1 of the series follows the growing friendship between Kagami and Marinette as they maneuver the intricacies of liking the same boy, but also, potentially each other.
Relationships: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Kagami Tsurugi
Series: How To... [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2155869
Comments: 2
Kudos: 41





	30 Tips to Making Friends

**Author's Note:**

> There just aren't enough fanfictions for this pair. Plus I always have a soft spot for rivals in a love triangle, falling for each other.

In all her years on this Earth, Kagami had prided herself on being practical and straightforward. Yet, if there was anything her fondness towards Adrien had shown her, it was that emotions were not practical and the farthest thing from straightforward.

She had believed, in her pursuit for his affection, that she did not need anything—anyone else. But she was wrong. She needed a friend. After sharing only brief moments with Marinette, the other girl after Adrien’s affection, she had concluded that perhaps her goal of attaining his love was not as pressing as it was to attain Marinette’s friendship.

_30 Tips to Making Friends_

_Step one: Be friendly: Smile and show open body language_

“Do you prefer to be called by your whole name or a nickname?” Kagami asked as Marinette stood close by, a metallic red and black fishing pole extended into the Seine below.

_Oh, right. The smile._

She bared a wide smile, all teeth.

Marinette turned towards her, mouth hanging slightly ajar. “Um…by my whole name.”

She did not seem sure of herself, but Kagami internally noted the information.

_Potentially a nickname in the future. Marinette Dupain-Cheng for now._

“Thank you, Marinette,” she said. “Your hair is… very shiny.”

_Smile._

“Uh, thank you.” The girl approximately the same height and stature as she accepted the compliment, if not with minor hesitation. “Your hair is not too bad either.”

_Good. Progress._

Wait. She’d skipped a few steps. Marinette cast the line out once more after another failed attempt at retrieving their next clue.

_Step two: Ask questions to show interest_

“What is your blood type?”

_Smile._

“What is my blood type?” Marinette stood there puzzled and a tad bit alarmed, if she was deducing her properly. “I don’t know.”

_Of course. It is not customary here._

“Are you messing with me?” Marinette pushed.

_No!_

“No. Everyone is Japan knows their blood type. It tells you who you are,” she said turning back to the river.

A swell of pride rose in her chest, but she quelled it for now.

“Mine is O, which means I’m independent, optimistic, strong-willed—” She grabbed an old skate from Marinette’s line and tossed it in a box with the rest of the trash. “—and intuitive.”

Marinette hummed beside her. Was a hum good or bad? The list of instructions said nothing about reactions.

“What is your favorite season?” she asked, attempting to lighten the mood.

_Smile._

This question seemed to pique Marinette’s interest, because as she started to ramble, the pace and fervor in which she spoke increased exponentially. Winter, in particular, seemed to catch her off guard as if she’d almost overlooked the best of them all. Kagami turned to her and with meticulous analyzation, narrowed down her blood type.

“You’re indecisive, scatter-brained, irresponsible. A split personality. Typical AB.”

The knowledge left Kagami satisfied.

_I can work with AB._

As Kagami recited another question for Marinette to answer, she looked down to the railing in which they’d been standing by and noticed its significance for the first time—a love lock bridge.

_Step Three: Invite them to spend time with you_

“Would you like to get some orange juice with me?”

Kagami barely heard Marinette’s response, before she realized her partner had successfully retrieved the next clue.

_Excellent,_ she thought.

She wasn’t quite at step nine yet but figured their progress had awarded them the physical touch of her hand on Marinette’s shoulder. It was a foreign gesture, but she smiled through it, patting the material of her black blazer.

_All roads led to friendship._

“Congratulations Marinette! First, we win, then we'll celebrate with orange juice.”

It was the perfect way to solidify a start to their relationship—associate their time spent together with the accomplishment of a shared goal. She didn’t even think that step was on the list.

* * *

It was true that Marinette’s type AB personality was a bit scatterbrain. She seemed to get easily turned around on their hunt and if by luck, managed to find the following clues without much effort at all. After it had felt like they’d been to every notable location in Paris, the second to last instructions came in on their phones.

“Trust challenge: exchange unlocked phones, separate and take a selfie in front of different monuments using each other’s phones. Then regroup and take a selfie together like the friends you’ve become,” Kagami said.

She didn’t think friendship came that easily.

_Ridiculous game._

With slight trepidation, she extended her mostly baren phone to Marinette. Normal girls had more than just their mother’s contact information. She fought through the urge to keep the device in her grasp and handed it over.

_No hesitation._

This was Marinette, though. She was kind and accepting and totally wouldn’t be the person to judge her, right?

Kagami left her free arm extended and motioned for Marinette to hand over her own phone. Her eyes remained fixed on Kagami’s phone. It was clear her thoughts were elsewhere.

“You really are an indecisive girl,” she said with a small grin. “We’ll meet back here. We’re going to win!”

She ran a short distance down the sidewalk until the Place de la Concorde was clearly visible in the background. She couldn't remember the last time she taken a selfie.

_How does one smile for a selfie?_ she thought, contorting her face into different expressions.

They looked ingenuine and so forced. Kagami deflated. She tried again, but was interrupted by a string of messages that started popping up on Marinette’s phone.

_Wow._ Kagami couldn't help but feel insignificant if these were all friends of Marinette, messaging her.

As the messages kept coming, one of her swipes did not register on the phone correctly and it opened a video from Marinette’s best friend, Alya. Her momentary shock caused Kagami to freeze, short-circuited.

“I can’t believe you’re stuck with Kagami!” the girl on the phone chortled.

Kagami gasped.

_But I was friendly. I asked her questions. I provided physical affection._

Kagami did not understand. Was she really so terrible to spend the day with? Once again, she deflated and used every bit of concentration to stop the tears threatening to pool at the corners of her eyes. She let her head fall in shame. She knew she was amazing in many things, however maybe making friends was not one of them.

She snapped the required photo, a blank expression on her face, and started walking back to where they’d separated. Regardless of what the girl had said, she needed to find Marinette and trade back phones. She hoped for her own embarrassment that Marinette would not notice the video had been opened.

Shortly after walking around the Roue de Paris, Kagami saw Marinette full on sprinting towards her. If she’d had more energy and the will, she would have met Marinette halfway to see what the matter was. Now, however, she was only mildly intrigued.

Panting, Marinette approached her and held out her hand. Was she there to stop her from coming any closer or was it something else?

Kagami did not know and she didn’t think she had the gall to find out.

“I guess I am not worthy of our friendship.” She handed Marinette back her phone. “Our blood types must be too incompatible.”

She did not turn back to see what the cause for Marinette’s sigh was and if not for the sound of her ringtone, might have kept walking.

“Hello?” Marinette picked up her phone.

There was only one person who called her.

_Mother._

Her guess was confirmed when she began to hear the loud, yet distinct voice on the other end.

“Ah,” Marinette stalled. “Hello ma’am. I am not Kagami, actually.”

The real Kagami winced. She could not watch.

“Kagami!”

She heard Marinette call after her, followed by footsteps against the dirt path.

“I’m a friend of Kagami’s.”

_A friend?_

“I’m right here with her. I’ll put her on the phone,” Marinette continued, now standing across from Kagami.

Kagami freaked out, unsure of what to do. This was her mother on one end and the sweet, yet bumbling, Marinette on the other. This couldn’t end well.

“Oh, I can assure you ma’am. I am a friend of Kagami’s.”

She wanted the words to be true, but her anxiety kept her wishful thinking at bay.

“We’re even teamed up together for a game,”

_But she says it so willfully,_ Kagami thought. _And with such conviction._

Marinette had started rambling at that point, most likely trying to cover up that Kagami had gone against her mother’s wishes _._ Even when it was obvious that the two girls were in fact playing the silly game, Marinette kept going. Kagami felt her former resolve begin to fall away as she blinked at Marinette.

Her hair was very shiny.

“She’ll be back home soon, I promise. I’ll even walk her home myself,” Marinette said, voice much more reserved than it had been at the start of the conversation. “Ma’am, please don’t punish your daughter.”

There was something very off as Marinette stayed silent, waiting for Mme Tsurugi to reply on the other end. After a quick gasp, Marinette hung up the phone and turned to face Kagami with a sort of worry that Kagami had seen in her eyes before.

“I am sorry,” Marinette said.

She reached for Kagami’s wrist and slid the phone into the palm of her hand. Based on the frantic way Marinette’s eyes darted back and forth, Kagami could sense there was an emergency. But what was going on and why had she not let go yet? Through Marinette’s somewhat incoherent rant, Kagami was hyper aware of the moment the girl’s slender fingers released her, leaving her arm stretched out at a ninety-degree angle, holding the phone out foolishly.

“—but I think your mom’s super-duper angry now and will be looking for you. I actually think you might want to hide some place where she won’t find you!”

Marinette grabbed her other wrist this time and the two of them took off down the path. After catching herself from stumbling, Kagami fell in stride with Marinette. She kept looking back at Kagami to check she was still there—as if the feeling of her wrist in her hand was not enough of a reminder. When they reached a clearing in the trees, Marinette’s grip slipped down to Kagami’s hand and she clasped her fingers around her hand.

Kagami had no chance to dwell on this as the force from Ikari Gozen’s landing knocked both of them forward, off their feet.

“You disobeyed me!” The akumatized Mme Tsurugi roared. “You will never go out again!”

In an instant, Kagami felt the cold, iron grip of the mecha surround her, body limp against its force. Despite her unfortunate circumstance, the only thing Kagami could focus on was her friend—yes, her new friend, lying scared in the dirt.

“No!” She cried out. “Mother!”

She felt a whoosh as her body sailed into the mouth of the mecha and then, like the drop from a roller coaster, her heart thudded against her chest as she slammed into the car seat like chasm below. 

* * *

“Longg, open sky,” Kagami said, once she was sheltered in the alleyway between two tall bricked buildings.

She felt a yearning to be back in the suit the moment the disguise fell away.

“I have to tell you I won’t be able to give you this Miraculous again,” Ladybug said across from her.

She held out her hand, cloaked in the red hexagonal, skintight suit. Resigned, Kagami removed the choker from around her neck and placed it gently in the palm of Ladybug’s hand—the loose string ends hung over Ladybug’s pinky, limp.

“I know,” Kagami replied. “I wasn’t good enough.”

She’d been reckless—dived headfirst into the unknown, because of those impractical emotions. Those emotions that kept betraying her. She was surprised when Ladybug’s reply did not match her somber tone.

“Quite the opposite. You learn fast.”

_Was Ladybug giving me a compliment?_

Kagami stared soulfully into the blue eyes behind the mask and felt so bare. Without the suit she was just Kagami again.

Ladybug explained why she wouldn’t be able to receive the Miraculous again.

“—And keeping one’s true identity secret is a very important rule among superheroes,” she said. “Without it, you and everyone you love would become endangered.”

Images of people she’d already lost flickered through Kagami’s mind. Though strict and unmoving, she saw her mom, clothed in traditional kendo armor; Adrien whose smile peaked out from behind his epee mask; and Marinette.

Kagami cut Ladybug off. “I don’t have many friends.”

She looked down, not embarrassed, but deeply disappointed in herself and pinched her eyes closed. A suit clad hand rested on her shoulder and she jumped somewhat at the touch.

“It’s not important to have lots of friends,” Ladybug said. “What matters is that the ones you have are true friends.

“Bug out.”

Kagami smiled up at the space the red and black hero had once been.

_True friends, huh?_

* * *

When Kagami caught back up with Marinette, she was leaning against the railing of the smaller bridge they’d been on before. Even though Ladybug’s magic had reset all of Ikari Gozen’s damage, Kagami was still glad the mecha hadn’t hurt her new friend.

“The game is over, we lost,” she informed Marinette, holding up her phone to reveal a picture of Adrien, Alya, and a strawberry blonde boy she did not recognize.

As chipper as ever, Marinette leaned forwards towards Kugami with her arms crossed.

“No, we’ve won the right to get orange juice together… If you still want to that is.”

_Was that doubt?_

“Nothing can stop us now.” Marinette bounced on the balls of her feet.

“I was wrong about you, Marinette,” Kagami admitted. She heard Ladybug’s message about true friends ringing in her ear. “I’m glad this game randomly put us together. Now I understand why Adrien considers you a good friend.”

“Oh!” Marinette’s eyes went wide.

Had she said the wrong thing?

“I uh, did he tell you that… I mean, that we're friends?” Marinette asked, looking away towards her feet, before meeting Kagami’s eyes once more.

Kagami nodded with a contented sigh.

Marinette looked to be considering something for a moment before she reached out and pulled Kagami to her side. Marinette’s arm reached under Kagami’s in the same way she’d often led her mom around at foreign events, but this felt different.

_A true friend,_ she thought to herself again.

“By the way, I’ve been thinking about this blood-type thing,” Marinette prattled on. “Isn't it a bit like the zodiac thing? What’s your sign?

Marinette led them off the bridge down a walkway with shops on either side.

“Dragon,” Kagami answered.

Marinette sprung away from her for a second, before clinging back onto her side with additional enthusiasm.

“No way! I’m snake. Do they go well together?”

Kagami shrugged. “Actually, I don’t really believe in that stuff.”

She refrained from mentioning how well O and AB worked together when facing adversity.

“Me neither, but you know what? I’m glad we’re friends.”

_Step Four: Be bold and let them know you desire their friendship_

“I’m really glad we’re friends as well,” Kagami replied.

She drew her free arm across her chest and squeezed Marinette’s, just above the elbow.

“More than anything.”


End file.
